SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: pageant or poetry

“Climb the mountain not to plant your flag, but to embrace the challenge, enjoy the air and behold the view. Climb it so you can see the world, not so the world can see you.”       ~ David McCullough, modern-day English teacher

Life is not a pageant.  And yet we  unabashedly tuck this gloriously divine journey and spontaneously shared experience into a flippant 4-letter word and dress it up like a calamatied, desperate, purpose-less reality star who ultimately exploits and extinguishes her own value.  Life is not charading parade of nipped and tucked excuses of beauty…of average activities reupholstered to elicit wooing and swooning in hopes of earning awards no more valuable or necessary  than a 14 carat gold tombstone.  Life is not a calling to exhibit one’s presumed importance for awe’s sake of our 7 billion relatives.  For life is LIFE.  It’s like light and air and thoughts and bodies… it’s just there.  And we all have IT… for some time.  And no one’s is more important.  For we are all but a sum of parts playing on a gameboard on an unpretentious planet… and when one piece gets taken away, the game still goes on.

And so, perhaps life is like a poetry slam, or so I humbly reflect.  A dedicated effort of an affected orator striving to breathe life into the written word with emphatic, emoting performance that eggs both speaker and audience to tug the air for more oxygen and the room for more space and actions for more meaning.  Life is emulated by the aerobic effort required by this act of igniting possibilities into a kinetic energy that spills on and rips through every thread of those in the same circling space.   And yet the expansion of meaning in the mutterings from muted paper are mere reflections of the challenges of the poet himself.  Though he stands upon a stage, he knows his spectators ironically watch themselves shift under influence, and he is without need of approval.  For the poet alone strives to make it to the top of a metaphorical mountain…but for the experience alone of seeing a new view revealed upon his last breath into the last particle of punctuation.  Breath to thoughts to words to actions to breath again… and then another upward hike to enlightenment.  Unstaged life unfolding.   ~ KD

Copyright by Kimberlie Dykeman.

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SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: be brave …tomorrow

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.”     ~ Mary Anne Radmacher, author & artist

Ever had a day where you woke up with the best of intentions in mind, with your hair on fire to make a difference and leave your mark on this world, and with a sense of clarity that could power through any obstacle…. only to have it all seemingly stomped on my noon?  Missteps and metaphorical missiles blew your intentions to bits.  Challenges and chiding people doused your ignited spirit with doubt and drama.  And confusion clouded your once impervious vision.  And there you sat and the day’s close wondering what the hell happened?  How did all the proverbial S&!T hit the fan when you were sure you woke up on the side of the bed that promised purpose, achievement, peace and joy.

Those are days no one cares to speak of, but we all know happen more often than not.  They are part and parcel to being human.

To being alive.

That said, each night as you retire to allow the next morning to arrive… listen for the voice of courage.  For its message sears your heart and spine with the unshakable bravery and reminds you to place your armor, ideas, determination and enthusiasm by the foot of your bed.  For perhaps tomorrow is your day to overcome and celebrate.     ~ KD

Copyright by Kimberlie Dykeman.

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SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: how you livin’?

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience”     ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, philosopher, priest & paleontologist

So…whatcha been doing lately?  You know, in between the walking, talking, breathing, building, writing, cooking, sleeping, cleaning, fighting, birthing, driving, primping, disciplining, and sitting.  Shall I surmise a list? Perhaps you’ve been…

thinking… feeling… loving… hoping… dreaming… praying… delighting… wondering… visualizing… caring… reflecting…

apologizing… relaxing… promising… compromising… trusting… laughing… celebrating… befriending… worrying…

forgiving… sharing… surrendering… performing… smiling… preaching… planning… empathizing… believing… creating…

Every nook and cranny of each day of your life is filled with the seemingly intangible substance of the spirit, as you act the role of a human being.  The fluff of stuff of the heart and mind that your body simply helps carry out…if only to hold you upright…is the weight of your person.  It makes YOU, folks.  When you accept that there is a hellluvalot more going on in each passing moment, the squishy “spiritual” verbiage becomes more digestible and believable.  The underconversation of your purpose and own melodic magic drown out the minutia of doing… and allows you to excel in all of your being.   Cheers to your experience.     ~ KD

Copyright by Kimberlie Dykeman.

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SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: human being blessing

“The most interesting thing in the world is another human being-  who wonders, suffers and raises the questions that have bothered him to the last day of his life, knowing he will never get the answers.”     ~ Will Durant, writer, historian and philosopher

Enough with the cars, computers, collectibles… and crap, folks.  You can’t take any of it with you when you go.  And when you’re grey and gabbing about unforgettable memories… I’ll bet the farm and Buffet’s bank account that the human beings you knew will bring the most awe-inspiring images to your stories, not the stuff.

Get to know a few more human beings… really know them.  Talk like there’s no such things as things more worthy than another breath.  ~KD

Copyright 2012 by Kimberlie Dykeman.

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SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: ode to the great LEAP!

May this coming Leap Day prompt you to jump ship of your old ideas and habits… and land in the arms of a welcoming new world filled with so very much more glory, greatness and gratification! And who better that Mr. Miller to plant the seed!    ~KD

“All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience.”      ~ Henry Miller, writer & painter

Can I get an Amen?! Man, is that good! Amazing how such an uncomplicated, yet purposeful pairing of words can reignite the profound sensation of discovery, fear, and perpetual enlightenment we all experienced as little kids. I call this your curiosity quotient: That indescribable yearning for knowledge, newness, and surprise; that willingness to test drive without experience, to journey forward without direction, to jump into the proverbial spotlight without inhibitions.

As children we eat, sleep, and breathe it, then we mutate into adults! So many of us awaken to find ourselves in situations because of our personal, professional, or familial obligations, where we purposefully and painfully go out of our way to avoid rocking the boat. We work ourselves to death just to keep our sights narrowed on our own backyards, filled with that which we are familiar, can juggle, and, perhaps, can control. God forbid a curve ball gets thrown into the works, let alone, we allow our minds to wander and wonder “what if” or “why not.”

Believe it or not, just peering over the barbed wire comfort zone of your current reality raises your curiosity quotient. In turn, you might then ponder the tethered state of affairs within the mossed-over walls. Do you dare stir up the daily minutia fogging the pillars of your temporal life? The 9-5 grind, beer and golf on Saturdays, scheduled fun with the kids on Sundays, the same treadmill routine, same breakfast, same date night, same family vacation, same circle of friends, same closet of clothes, same goals for the past 20 years. Are you asleep yet?

Maybe it’s time you challenge yourself with all your senses to examine this recycled lifestyle with the same wonderment of what might need a little shaking up. Then take that next step and put thoughts into action. Become a kinetic Being. Turn your curiosity quotient up a notch. And don’t stop to see if there’s an owner’s manual. Don’t ask for directions. Don’t worry about an audience. Savor the sizzle of spontaneity. Bask in the carefree sensation of renewed youth that ensues. And leap!

This is an excerpt from Pure Soapbox“ by Kimberlie Dykeman.
Copyright 2008 by Kimberlie Dykeman.
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A portion of the proceeds of all book sales is donated to charity. Book KIMBERLIE to confetti your company with OPTIMISM! info@puresoapbox.com

SOAPBOX® mini-motivation: everything happens for a reason

 You don’t lose your balance unless your life is out of balance.”     ~ Arthur Smalls, jazz cat musician

 Well, friends, it’s been a whole month since 2012 rang her bell with a promise to bring “change” into your lives.  And so I ask, candidly…is anything different?  If the answer is YES, and it’s deeper than simply a new brand of toothpaste, then I congratulate you!  Keep it up!  Now, if you answer NO, or have found yourself brewing in a mindbog of uncertainty, apathy, frustration or desperation, perhaps you take some time to assess your terrain to see the real culprit weeds that are tangling you up… and then reread my ditty on January 9th.  Just a suggestion.    ~KD


 http://youtu.be/rgjU-QMlcyU

 
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